Bestival 2011: A Fantastic Addition to a Fantastic Festival

On the face of it, the Bestivalapp is the equivalent of an electronic program or lanyard, but actually it’s far more useful than that.

As well as giving you all the times of performers, you can actually custom make your own ‘wish list schedule’ to tailor your own weekend. Equally speaking the app also contains an electronic map with interactive ‘hot spots’ (what’s on where sorta thing), just to round off the programme/lanyard comparisons. However, the app then raises the bar where some developers might have just been content to settle. For starters, the app also brings you (as the weekend develops) all the latest news from the festival and even the ability for social media addicts to tweet or Facebook post info on the particular artists as you see them. Not just that but there’s even a tab for vouchers to use at the festival; Granted you’re still going to have to buy food for £5+ (The same rip off at every festival to be fair) but the ability to get a free drink/snack/cup of tea is a nice little add on despite the traditional high prices. Lastly, as if there wasn’t already enough reason to buy it, you’re also given all the information you’ll need about the festival itself – how to get there, where to park, where to pitch your tent and any other question you could imagine.

A lot of effort has gone into making the app and it really shows because you never get the impression that this is a cheap tack on to make some extra money. This isactually, a fantastic little add onto an otherwise wonderful festival.

There is admittedly one tiny blemish on the otherwise perfect app, in that the resolution of the images and text looks a touch low res – even on the iPhones crisp retina display. Like we said, it’s a tiny problem, but it does have the effect of making the beautifully designed illustrations and fonts on the app rather disappointing and difficult to make out.

Nevertheless, despite one small issue the Bestival app is still a tremendous little package even at its arguably pricey £2.99 price point. What we need to consider is that although the app might be a high price, it will surely be worth its money and then some when it comes to using it at the festival. Likewise, with the price of lanyards and programs these days (which no doubt get ripped to shreds over a weekend) the app is actually much cheaper, environmentally friendly and more useful than the bog standard alternatives. The app is quite simply a must buy for Bestival goers.